> > Tonight I asked a few of my relatives whether -- out of all the movies and musicals that they have seen and own -- what was the most memorable movie song (or vocal turn of phrase) in any film that they could recall.
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> I realize that you weren't really looking for this kind of response, but, for me, it has to be "I'm Going To Go Back There Someday," from (of all films) The Muppet Movie.
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> This, in turn, gets me to wondering why. For me, music is the highest form of expression. When the characters in a movie (or a stage show, for that matter) do a song, it expresses to me not only ooey gooey mooshy feelings, but all manner of things that simply can't be expressed any other way. In a riveting musical number (Emile's "This Nearly Was Mine," from "South Pacific," is a perfect example), I get an insight into the depth of the character that I couldn't have gained simply from the dialogue, no matter how sophisticated. But, even more than that, I gain some insight into my own character. The reactions I have to that song, and to "I'm Going To Go Back There Someday," and to countless other songs, tell me a lot about myself that I never knew before. And, in the process, they make me a part of the movie. And that, for me, is the importance of music in a show - rather than distancing me from the film by its "unreality" (if that is a good way to describe the problem you expressed with it), it incorporates me into the film and incorporates the film into me by connecting on a deeper level than dialogue alone ever could.
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> I realize that not everyone does or can experience music the same way, and that people have different paths to epiphany. But that's what it means to me. Maybe I've said something important here. Maybe I haven't.

I don't know if this is the most memorable for me, but Barbra Streisand's "Tomorrow Night" from "Yentl" certainly expresses the trapped-going-to-the-wrong-place-on-a-freight-train-with-bad-brakes-going-downhill-with-no-chance-of-turning-around kind of feeling which might not have been expressed as well without music. And the orchestra helped in that, as well.

> Darien